R walkthrough
The core loop with library(dvs)
This walkthrough runs the everyday loop from R: initialize a project, add a file, check its status, delete it, then get it back. It is the "I re-cloned a project and need its data" sequence. The CLI walkthrough covers the same steps from the terminal.
🔗Setup
options(width = 1000)
library(dvs)
library(here)Create a project directory and a sibling storage directory, then save R's
built-in Theoph dataset as a CSV.
storage <- basename(tempfile(fileext = "_storage"))
new_project <- basename(tempfile(fileext = "_project"))
dir.create(here::here(storage))
dir.create(here::here(new_project))
dir.create(here::here(new_project, "data"))
write.csv(Theoph, here::here(new_project, "data/theoph.csv"), row.names = FALSE)🔗1. Initialize
Point storage at the sibling directory. See dvs_init() for every parameter.
setwd(here::here(new_project))
dvs_init(here::here(storage))# A tibble: 1 × 4
compression metadata_folder_name backend_path backend_group
<chr> <lgl> <chr> <chr>
1 zstd NA /Users/elea/Documents/a2ai_github/dvs2-demo-repo/file51904d7bb99b_storage staff 🔗2. Add
Track the CSV with a message. See dvs_add().
setwd(here::here(new_project))
dvs_add("data/theoph.csv", message = "initial Theoph data")# A tibble: 1 × 6
path outcome hash size stored_size duration_ms
<chr> <chr> <chr> <bytes> <bytes> <dbl>
1 data/theoph.csv copied cdd978e51298006701f7b285aaf979933f0af6b179bbdf3347014af3bcd48c06 2.9 KB 842 B 2🔗3. Status
The file is tracked and current. See dvs_status().
setwd(here::here(new_project))
dvs_status()# A tibble: 1 × 10
path status hash size created_by compression message code error add_time
<chr> <chr> <chr> <bytes> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <dttm>
1 data/theoph.csv current cdd978e51298006701f7b285aaf979933f0af6b179bbdf3347014af3bcd48c06 2.9 KB elea zstd initial Theoph data <NA> <NA> 2026-10-30 11:09:42🔗4. Remove the file
Delete the local copy, the moment after a fresh clone where the data is not on disk yet.
unlink(here::here(new_project, "data/theoph.csv"))🔗5. Status again
The file is now absent: tracked, but missing locally.
setwd(here::here(new_project))
dvs_status()# A tibble: 1 × 10
path status hash size created_by compression message code error add_time
<chr> <chr> <chr> <bytes> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <dttm>
1 data/theoph.csv absent cdd978e51298006701f7b285aaf979933f0af6b179bbdf3347014af3bcd48c06 2.9 KB elea zstd initial Theoph data <NA> <NA> 2026-10-30 11:09:42dvs reports five statuses: current, absent, stale (unchanged since dvs
wrote it, while the tracked version moved on), modified (edited locally) and
unsynced (different, with no record of what dvs wrote). See
dvs_status() and Storage and meta files.
🔗6. Get
Restore the file from storage. See dvs_get().
setwd(here::here(new_project))
dvs_get("data/theoph.csv")# Restored 1
# A tibble: 1 × 13
path local_path before action satisfied size target_hash local_hash stored_copy code message hint duration_ms
* <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <lgl> <bytes> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <dbl>
1 data/theoph.csv data/theoph.csv absent restored TRUE 2.9 KB cdd978e51298006701f7b285aaf979933f0af6b179bbdf3347014af3bcd48c06 <NA> <NA> <NA> <NA> <NA> 0🔗7. Status again
The file is current again. The loop is complete.
setwd(here::here(new_project))
dvs_status()# A tibble: 1 × 10
path status hash size created_by compression message code error add_time
<chr> <chr> <chr> <bytes> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <dttm>
1 data/theoph.csv current cdd978e51298006701f7b285aaf979933f0af6b179bbdf3347014af3bcd48c06 2.9 KB elea zstd initial Theoph data <NA> <NA> 2026-10-30 11:09:42🔗Cleanup
unlink(here::here(new_project), recursive = TRUE)
unlink(here::here(storage), recursive = TRUE)🔗Next steps
- The R Package reference covers every parameter of dvs_init(), dvs_add(), dvs_status(), and dvs_get().
- The same loop from the terminal: CLI walkthrough.
- How dvs stores data: Storage and meta files.